Russia’s richest man first to bring foreign assets back home

Tycoon Alisher Usmanov has become the first Russian businessman to bring the controlling stakes of his key assets, mobile phone operator Megafon and iron ore producer Metalloinvest, back to Russia, after President Putin urged companies to de-offshore.

"This step is
related to the announcement by President Vladimir Putin of
pursuing the de-offshorization of the Russian economy and the
introduction to tax code clauses related to taxation of profits
of foreign companies," USM Holdings said in a statement
Friday.

On Thursday, the President reaffirmed his commitment to de -
offshorization during his annual Q&A session with
journalists. He stressed that his first goal was to legalize the
money rather then add more money to the budget.

Bringing assets of Russian companies back and legalizing them has
become one of the key points of Putin policy. There are some
estimates that about US$2 trillion has fled the Russian economy
in recent years. At the beginning of December President Putin
announced an amnesty on all funds returning to Russia, a month
after signing an anti-offshore bill curbing capital flight.